Axelrod: Reform will get more popular

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he thinks voters will eventually warm to health care reform.

“I think that health care, over time, is going to become more popular,” he told David Gregory. “But people are focused on this economy right now — they’ve got anxiety about this economy. That’s what’s driving the vote right now.”

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President Barack Obama’s signature accomplishment is currently so unpopular with voters that no Democratic candidate is running ads promoting it.

Axelrod continued the administration’s hammering of House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, asserting that lobbyists say: “We don't need to buy access to Mr. Boehner — we already have that. We want him in power, so that we're empowered.”

On the possibility that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will run for mayor of Chicago, Axelrod said: “I think the president has been clear that while Rahm is chief of staff, he’s going to be focused on his duties as chief of staff. He’s looking at it. He loves the city of Chicago — there’s no question about it."

“And he has a hard decision to make, because he has a lot of responsibilities here. And he enjoys working with this president. He enjoys serving the country in this capacity. But he’s going to make a decision. And after he makes his decision, I’m sure that he’ll make subsequent decisions about when … it’s appropriate to being doing that campaigning.”